Epilogue
“Why don’t you just take them off?” Aria asks, rolling her eyes for the third time.
“Not a chance. They complete the outfit.” I reply, adjusting my elbow length satin gloves for the hundredth time today.
“You obviously hate them.” She laughs, and I can’t deny it. I do hate them.
“Shhh, don’t say that so loud. If you offend Rosetta on my wedding day, I’ll have to kill you. And then what will all of this time we’ve spent helping you recover have been for? Nothing, that’s what.” I smirk, adjusting them yet again.
“I don’t think she likes me,” Rory says, smoothing the front of her emerald green dress.
“I don’t think she likes any of us,” Aria laughs, tucking a stray curl back into her loose chignon.
“That’s not true! She loves me,” I shrug, lining my lips with a deep red lip pencil.
My ivory satin dress hugs every inch of my curves like it were painted on, the back dipping low on my spine and the train flaring out wide like a cape behind me.
I feel undeniably sexy, but the girls are right, I hate these gloves.
Slipping them from my fingers, I drag my hands up my hips, smoothing the fabric.
I can’t believe I’m here right now. This is a dream I never thought I would find, and I’m living it in this very moment.
Six months ago, we buried my parents. Sebastian offered to help my siblings start over in any way they wanted to, a far more generous offer than I would ever have extended.
They could have a fresh start and get their educations, pay off their debts, and finally be free from the world my parents kept them trapped in for so long.
My oldest sister declined, refusing to even speak to me.
But my brother seemed receptive to the help.
He’s young enough that he might not be too far gone to save from a dangerous path of self-destruction.
Aria spent three months recovering from her injuries before deciding she wanted to take a vacation and spend some time with me at the villa.
We’ve toured half of Italy, seeing the most beautiful architecture and eating the most incredible food, spending all of our time healing our minds and bodies together as we planned this wedding. Now the day is finally here.
“You look beautiful, baby sister.” she says with a watery smile.
“I can’t thank you enough for all of your help making this day so perfect. I couldn’t do any of this without you.” I squeeze her hand, and a tear rolls down her cheek.
“Don’t you dare make me cry, asshole.” Rory hands her a tissue, and she dabs under her eyes gently.
“Knock knock, are you ladies ready to go?” Enzo pokes his head in through the door frame, his jaw hanging open when he looks at me.
“Are you sure you’re not willing to be my flower man? I mean, I really think you could pull it off.” I tell him, and he rolls his eyes.
“Never gonna happen, regina mia. But you are a vision. Shall we?” He offers Rory his arm, guiding her through the labyrinth of halls in the villa until we reach the beautiful gardens he showed me several months ago.
When I envisioned the perfect place to stand in front of Sebastian and become his wife, this was the only place I could see in my mind.
He hands her off to Breaker at the doors, and they make their way outside, sitting in the front row next to Rosetta.
Matteo stands at the door, waiting for Aria.
Through the open garden doors and flowing curtains, I can see Sebastian standing at the end of the aisle.
He’s facing away from me, his shoulders tensed and hands in his pockets.
“Ready to take a walk, sister?” Teo says, offering her his hand.
“I’m ready, are you?” She asks, looking back at me.
Some people may feel nervous on their wedding day, some may even have second thoughts. But I woke up this morning with a kind of peace of mind I've never felt before today. I never thought this was the path I would walk in life, but this place feels like my home, these people like my family.
“I’ll be right behind you,” I reply, watching them walk up the short aisle and take their places on either side.
Taking a deep breath, I take the first step towards the rest of my life.
The garden is full of all the people who love us most in this life, but all I can see is Sebastian.
He turns to face me, his eyes dilating as he blows out a breath.
I don’t need to be a mind reader to know what he’s thinking right now.
He’s imagining every way he can peel this beautiful dress off my body right this moment.
God, I love that man. I take his hand, letting him help me up the few steps at the end of the aisle, and he gives me a wink before turning to the priest with a nod.
“Knock it off right now,” I whisper, and he laughs softly.
“You started it,” he says, brushing his thumb over the pulse point on my wrist.
“Promise you’ll finish it?” I ask, quirking a brow.
“I just have a small prior commitment here, Bambina. Then I can guarantee you, I’ll finish it.” He grins mischievously, and I swear I could fall for him all over again.
“If you two are done being disgusting, the rest of us are waiting.” Matteo says drawing a few laughs from the crowd.
We listen to the priest talk for several minutes about love and fidelity, the importance of partnership and respect in marriage.
All I can do is dive deep into Sebastian’s dark eyes.
We opted to pass on writing our own vows, knowing that everything we could possibly say to one another is only for the two of us to share.
He slides the gold band onto my left hand when the priest prompts him to, a wide smile on his face.
I follow the same motions, loving the look of the pristine gold band against his tattooed knuckles.
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I now pronounce you…” the priest speaks, but Sebastian is already pulling me in to him, crashing his lips against mine in a kiss full of so much devotion I’m practically exploding from the inside out.
The world falls away as his lips glide across mine, his tongue warring for control as he explores every inch of my mouth until I’m saturated in his taste, in his all-consuming presence. This kiss seems to go on forever, neither of us interested in breaking the connection.
“And now I think the rest of us will go inside so we don’t have to watch any more of that,” I hear Aria gag, and the garden clears out behind us, but I don’t care.
Sebastian pulls my body flush against his, kissing me deeper, taking and demanding all I can possibly give. Everything I have is his anyway. He buries his hands in my hair, my flawless updo falling apart under his attentions.
“This dress is exquisite, my wife. I would hate to damage it. But your beauty has my control slipping more and more with each passing moment,” he says, kissing a path down my neck, across my collarbone, and over my heart.
He stops at the scar above my heart, the perfect S etched into my skin there, and places the softest kisses on top of it.
He wraps an arm around my waist, ushering me away from the center of the garden and into a more secluded area guarded on every side by tall, slender cypress trees lining the walkways. He pushes me into an alcove, my exposed shoulders scraping against the stone walls.
“I want to be inside you so badly it’s causing me physical pain, Vanessa.
But we don’t have the time I need to worship your body the way you deserve to be worshipped.
Hold your dress up,” he says, dropping to his knees in front of me.
He braces one of my heels against his shoulder, opening my core to him.
“You were hiding this bare pussy underneath all of this beautiful wrapping just for me?”
The flat of his tongue swipes across my clit, and I suppress a scream.
He licks and sucks my delicate flesh, feasting on me like I’m the remedy for hunger and he’s fucking ravenous.
My fingers slide into his hair, gripping the strands tightly as my climax builds.
He nips at my clit and I explode, unintelligible sounds falling from my lips.
Stars dance across my vision, my head swimming with the waves of desire that flood my system every single time he touches me.
“We should really get to dinner,” I pant, sliding my dress back down my hips and smoothing the fabric the best I can.
“No thanks, I already ate.” He smirks, laughing to himself. “Turns out, you actually were on the menu.”
I smack his shoulder, rolling my eyes. This will be the rest of my life, doomed to live with this never-ending frat boy. I can’t think of a better way to spend all of my eternities.